"Selecting the Best Candidate for your Special Finance Department" Part 1 of a special training series By Paul Snider The gap between regular and special finance is quickly narrowing resulting in a new dilemma for dealers and general managers. How do I select the best person to manage this often-complicated yet lucrative profit center of the dealership? Today the gap between traditional and special finance customers is very narrow and requires a different type of manager. Special finance is no longer a stepchild in dealerships. During the 90's it was convenient for dealerships to promote good sales persons to this department because most special finance customers were not well informed about available lenders. Entering the year 2000 consumers are more educated and have choices in the lending arena. Special finance managers must be professional, customer service oriented, detail driven and empathetic to credit impaired customers needs. Part 1 addresses the traits shared by successful special finance managers, selecting the best candidate, pay plans for success and reengineering the special finance department for growth. This track is designed to assist dealers prepare for the changing world of special finance by identifying, selecting and managing candidates properly. Topics to be discussed in future articles: Selecting professional training Employing the proper number of staff members Job descriptions for each staff member Tracking the success of you special finance department Building finance departments that are customer service driven Professional special finance managers share 7 common traits: 1. Organized and detail oriented. 2. Truthful with lenders and customers. 3. Understand lender guidelines and do not waste time with customers who do not qualify or cannot purchase. 4. Conduct professional interviews using empathy and people skills to earn customer confidence. 5. Develop advertising programs that attract qualified buyers. 6. Excellent knowledge of inventory. 7. Implement follow up programs within the dealership in order to take advantage of customer referrals. Selecting the Best Candidate: 1. Check references! Call lenders and find out how paperwork was handled accuracy of deals, first payment default rate and other areas that may affect performance. 2. During interview ask candidate to conduct an interview with you or member of staff. This will tell you a lot about how professional the candidate is. 3. Pay attention to the number of job changes and reasons. Often time's "high producers" will move frequently after generating high volume and gross. This is a sure sign of a manager who leaves a trail of mishandled deals. 4. During second interview have the office manager spend time with candidate. If the chemistry is not right chances are the paperwork and follow up will suffer. Pay Plans: 1. Pay plans should incorporate total sales department involvement. When special finance managers are only paid on gross of special finance they tend to miss deals that otherwise would be made. 2. A portion of the compensation should be on achieving department projections and another portion on overall sales department profit. Combined with a reasonable salary this type of compensation insures that the special finance manager is part of the overall team. Reengineering the Special Finance Department: The key to reengineering is a solid business plan. This plan should be outlined into quarterly projections and goals. Well designed business plans that address advertising, inventory, staff job descriptions and well rounded pay plans will allow dealerships to manage and track department progress. Change is very difficult however with the gap narrowing between regular and special finance now is the time to take action.